Actors

Have you ever been influenced by someone online? Followed someone's life through a screen, building a parasocial bond? Using this personal connection to their advantage, online personalities – influencers – hold power. They can shape their followers' behavior, ethics, and even political beliefs. But what happens when influencers promote ideas that favor a private company? Questions arise about how corporate influence is flooding our digital spaces.

After the Cambridge Analytica scandal, disinformation-for-hire firms gained traction by offering microtargeted ad services and influence campaigns that seemed both profitable and legally permissible, drawing interest from private companies. Their transnational reach and promise of deniability make it challenging to trace funding and hold those responsible to account, weakening democratic transparency.